Forever After
by Peachix
Summary: Jessie smiled at me, and unfortunately Cloud. Biggs: one, Mr. SOLDIER: one.


Another story I wrote a long time ago. I came up with a random first name for Biggs. I really liked this one, too. I remember kind of crying while I wrote the ending.

.-.-.-.-.

_I was running through a big field of flowers, candy on every edge, rainbow lollipops I used to get as a kid. Cotton candy hung in the air as clouds and my favorite girl stood at the end of the large field with open arms. The sky was the same baby blue as always with a candy moon hanging right by the smiling sun, pezzo's decorating it as stars. In the back of my mind, I wondered just how queer this was to dream about something like this, but it wasn't enough to make me stop. I started to skip through the field, grabbing lollipops growing out of the flowers as I did until I finally reached her. I held out my arms and leaned down to hug her and kiss her and..._

"Rylie! Oh Rylie...Biggs..Biggs, wakey wakey!" I felt a small poke on my cheek, a delicate little finger...and then it poked me again. And again...again..."wakey wakey..." again...again..

"WHAT WOMAN?!" I finally gave in, opening one eye to see Jessie sitting at my side, smiling down at me. She looked excited...but then again, she almost always looked excited. Which annoyed me a bit. But at least she kept things light hearted in dark times.

"Oh, you're up I see!" Jessie giggled madly, looking away from me to avoid my one-eyed death glare. "I just thought you should know, Barret hired an ex-SOLDIER for our next mission." That was enough to get me on my feet, immediately, wiping the sleep from my eyes to stare at her in disbelief. She stood up as well, albeit much calmer before crossing her arms behind her back in a cute, shy way. "Relax, Riley." I flinched. I absolutely hated how she called me by my first name all the time.

"Relax? What the hell is Barret thinking, hiring a SOLDIER of all people?" I asked, already angry with Barret. I know, I hadn't even met the guy, but he was in SOLDIER. Those people don't just turn good over night. I hadn't even noticed the dreamy look in Jessie's eye...well, not until much later.

"He used to be in SOLDIER. He's apparently Tifa's friend, you know. C'mon, lets go meet him," Jessie said, happily as she grabbed my wrist. Well, she was touching me, that calmed me a little. But I still wasn't going to believe this guy was good until I met him. We stepped onto the platform where the Pinball Machine was and reached the Seventh Heaven bar, where Wedge was already out and talking with Tifa and this spiky haired kid.

"Oh, Biggs!" Tifa waved at us to come over, leaning over the bar where the blond, assumed SOLDIER was sitting. I glared at him immediately before sitting next to where Wedge sat. I didn't bother to introduce myself-if this guy was really a good guy and a friend of Tifa's, he'd have the good grace to just approach me instead. Which he didn't, of course, which only solidified his snobbiness, in my mind at least. Jessie sat on the edge of the table, staring at him with those dreamy eyes, which I had just then noticed. It bugged me-what was she looking at? And why was she looking at him in that way?

Then Barret came out of a room to greet the two, albeit he seemed to have the same coldness towards the man that I did, which relieved me a little. He started to talk to him about the plan-or, more like snap orders at him in an untrusting voice and tell him that if he was paying him, he better do a good job. Great, so now we're paying the guy? This only said one thing in my mind: he didn't care at all, he just wanted to get his money and leave. And I was right.

He didn't speak the whole time. I still didn't have a clue about his name. Did SOLDIERs even have names? I always figured they went by numbers or something, they just lost their names when they signed up-that was the rumor around here, at least. Maybe Tifa knew, he was her friend like Jessie said, right? But why the hell would Tifa have a friend like that? A friend in SOLDIER? What, was she a traitor, too, now? My mind was running, crazy.

"He's so mysterious..." Jessie sighed, her shoulders slumping in a day-dreaming way. I glared at her out of the corner of my eye and then noted that Wedge had somewhat of the same look. What the hell? Did everyone like this guy? The only ones that seemed to be questioning him were Barret and I! I've known these people for years, they had to have more sense than this! My own best friend, Wedge, seemed to be going gay for the guy! This was so wrong...

"Alright, everyone ready? Better be, 'cause we're headin' out to the train now!" Barret called and lead us all out of the bar, including Mr. SOLDIER.

Tifa called for us to be careful, with little Marlene wiping down the counters helpfully beside her. I smoothly yelled back over my shoulder, "we wont be!" My spirits lifted a little when I heard Jessie giggle at the comment, I knew it was a funny one! Biggs: one, Mr. SOLDIER: zip. Haha. What a loser. We boarded the train, one by one, Cloud entering before Jessie, which no one ever did-we all let her go first with me straight behind her. It made me hate the guy even more, but Jessie didn't seem to mind. Why?

I brushed it off with annoyance and we sat on the train, people looking at us oddly like they always did. The train ride went smoothly, but as always, we were ambushed by Shin-Ra guards. Barret had no problem taking two down at once-but I warily noted that neither did Mr. SOLDIER, either. I could only take down one while Wedge and Jesse focused on one as well. Wedge managed to take down one by himself, leaving Jessie to run up to the front and tap in the code while we handled the rest.

After they were taken care of, we followed Jessie, who was looking at the map we planned out. All of a sudden, Mr. SOLDIER stepped in front of her and lead the way, in no need of a map. Sure it was helpful...but come on, the guy was just being stuck up! I shook it off and followed him.

After a few minutes of bringing down numerous guards and traveling, we arrived at our destination. Everything went as planned, so I grabbed onto the ladder that would take us down and get us out of here before the bomb went off...and then...I realized...

"Jessie?!" She hadn't gone down the ladder before me, so I jumped off it immediately and looked around. She wasn't in the group. Barret yelled a curse when he realized as well and we ran towards where we had set the bomb. I ran up to the door to go in, but Mr. SOLDIER grabbed me by shoulder and stopped me. "What d'you think you're doing?!" I was in a rage by now-she was in there!

"It's dangerous to get close to the bomb," he said, simply, and went in before me. I crossed my arms with a bitter glare on my face-what a F #$ing show off! "It's too close to get to the bomb" my ass!

"What the hell's takin' 'em so damn long? We only got about seven more minutes...if they don't come out in the next minute, we're outta here," Barret told us and I turned to him, looking enraged and frightened.

"You're just gonna leave Jessie?! Fine-go! I'm staying-I'll get her!" I turned on my heel to charge into the door, but it opened with Mr. SOLDIER carrying my girl-err, Jessie by the waist, who was limping, looking somewhat beat up. I grabbed her away from Mr. SOLDIER and took her myself, he looked as if he didn't mind. As we left, me helping her down the ladder and carrying her, she hurriedly explained that she fell as they were exiting in typical clumsy Jessie fashion. She laughed it off once we were out of the building and getting back to the train. We hoped on board and I helped her into her seat. She smiled at me warmly, which I appreciated-but to my dismay, she smiled at Mr. SOLDIER as well.

I sat down next to her, holding her wrist up to my eyes. "Tifa can fix this at the bar." It was no secret I'm no white mage, and I had no potions on me. She wasn't beaten up as bad as I first thought when she got out, but I still worried. Finally, I looked away from her and saw Mr. SOLDIER leaning back, arms crossed, looking out the window. As much as I hated the guy, he got her out of there..._even_ if I could've done it myself, and _quicker_..."What's your name?"

He looked at me and paused, as if wondering if he should say. Maybe he didn't know it, but by waiting to tell _me, _it was just making me more frustrated. Finally he spoke, "...Cloud."

The rest of the train ride was quiet, except for Barret yelling about things and Jessie thanking me, and unfortunately Cloud as well. Biggs: one, Mr. SOLDIER: one? I sighed at the thought but shrugged it off as we headed back to the bar. Jessie got herself to the potion cabinets just fine and was looking better after she gulped down one or two, then sat down next to me at the bar. Tifa already had a meal prepared for all of us by the time we got back.

"Yeah-I fell! I fell all the way to the next floor. Man, it hurt, I thought no one was coming back for me and I could hear the bomb ticking! And then, alluva sudden, the door opened and Cloud came and saved me!" Jessie explained with a girlish sigh to Tifa, who was giggling at the girls obvious crush.

"Oh, Cloud, I knew you still had a soft side. You always act like SOLDIER hardened you, but I can tell," Tifa winked at Cloud, patting his head in a friendly way. Cloud batted away her hand and it reminded me of something...all those times Jessie teased me about having a soft side, patting me somewhere, I brushed away her hand. It was a little creepy how reminiscent it was.

"What's with that guy..." I mumbled to Wedge, my arms crossed in a stubborn fashion as Tifa and Jessie talked more about what happened. Thankfully, they stopped talking about how Cloud came to be all heroic and sweep her off her feet. He wasn't all that great...he does one little thing for her and she swoons. Well, she was swooning before that, but still...

"We gonna discuss my pay?" Cloud finally said, turning his seat to look at Barret, who was having a drink. Barret looked at him and sighed, scratching the back of his head. "You promised 1000 gil."

"Look, what about 500 gil?" Barret asked, throwing his head back to chug the rest of his drink. I watched them intently, I knew the guy wasn't going to say yes to that. He was just to selfish to. I was somewhat glad when I was right.

"I did what you asked, I even saved the girl. Pay me what you promised," he said, coolly, and I could just see the steam coming out of Barret's ears. This guy was obviously not on Barret's good side, and that gave me some sort of odd satisfaction. But what did saving Jessie have to do with it? What, he was just doing that in hopes of getting more money out of Barret? What a bastard. I should've just went in anyway and saved her myself, then he couldn't of said that and Jessie would be swooning over _me. _Tifa came rushing over immediately at the sign of trouble, convincing Barret into just paying him what he asks. After a few moments, Barret gave in, albeit not happily, and dumped the gil onto the bar table in front of Cloud.

"Damn money was for Marlene's schoolin'..." Barret mumbled, bitterly.

"Selfish bastard..." I mumbled under my breath, but I was quietly cheering when Jessie frowned for a moment when she noticed Cloud wouldn't budge for 500 gil. However, she looked down at him in surprise.

"Rylie! Don't say that!" she said with her arms crossed before jumping off the table. But her regular, cheerful smile return after a few seconds. "Come on, we should go stock up on potions before we go on our next mission. Thought I was a goner when I noticed there weren't any potions left in my case." Once again she grasped my wrist and pulled me towards her. Her grip was never tight on me, but when she was handling guards, I could always see she was digging her nails into their skin and doing all she could to tear them apart. He raised his eyebrows when he felt himself get... er... _aroused? _At the thought of her fighting? He shook it off and decided he was happy that she was talking to him now-she still liked him, no matter Mr. SOLDIER.

"Sorry 'bout that," I said, sheepishly scratching my head. She giggled with a smile as we headed towards the potions cabinet, shaking her head at him.

"Don't be. I heard that Barret wanted to leave and you were ready to go in after me. Thank you, Riley," she told me, sweetly. I looked at her in surprise, who told her that? It was probably Wedge, I thought, and I mentally thanked him for it.

The days trudged on, Cloud would leave every now and then, Tifa told him that he should always feel welcome to stay over night, but he never did, which I was thankful for. Barret, Wedge, Jessie and I all shared a room together down there [Marlene stayed in Tifa's room] and not only would it just make things more cramped, I didn't want Mr. SOLDIER staying in a room with Jessie. I could trust Barret and Wedge not to put the moves on her, Barret still had his late wife he was grieving over and Wedge knew of my feelings for her, so he wouldn't ever.

After about three days passed and we all regained their energy, Barret announced we'd be going on another mission to blow up another reactor. Jessie seemed very excited, and even more excited when Barret said he'd rehire Cloud for the job, to my dismay. The next day rolled around and I was more anxious than usual. I had a bad feeling about that day, but my bad feelings were usually wrong, so I tried to brush it off. But the feeling in my stomach kept it in my mind even when we got on the train. Tifa had decided to go this time, which only worsened my bad feeling. Maybe she'd get hurt...? Or maybe Jessie...Jessie wasn't the most graceful, and while she was good at her job, she stuffed up a lot.

The plan went just as smoothly as the last mission, someone got into a bit of trouble, but we got them out, and we were heading back. Barret, Tifa, and Mr. SOLDIER split from Wedge, Jessie and I, when I told him we we're counting on him to blow up the reactor, something I said with a slight cringe, but I didn't worry. Tifa was tough, Barret was tougher, and Cloud was Mr. SOLDIER after all. But when I saw what went down with President Shinra, I felt inclined to help. But I knew it was there battle, as they fought with some big machine. They could handle it. But Jessie and Wedge wanted to stay to make sure they'd be alright, so I hung back for them.

Then they were surrounded and...BANG. I grabbed onto Jessie and pulled her back from the explosion, holding her tight so she wouldn't try to interfere. She finally gave up in her struggle and held onto me, her face in my chest so she couldn't see. I put my hand on the back of her head when I saw Cloud hanging off the edge of the walkway, I didn't want her to see. I knew he was going to fall off, he wouldn't be able to hang on. Tifa got to her knees and tried to help him, but Barret did just what I did with Jessie. Cloud finally slipped and Jessie managed to peak to see it. She struggled in my arms when it happened, but I held her back. I wasn't going to let her do something ridiculous...

The next few days were quiet. Nothing much happened. The bar was a sad place...especially with Tifa gone. Jessie was the most depressed out of us all, but Wedge looked sad, too. Even Barret was quieter than usual, staring into his drink often. I felt bad, but only because I didn't feel badder about Cloud. Tifa went out to look for him, but I thought he was dead. There's no way anyone could've survived a fall like that, not even Mr. SOLDIER.

But I hated seeing little Jessie so sad. It hurt me a little, in that cheesy way. I wanted to cheer her up, I wanted to be the one to cheer her up, especially, but I wasn't sure how. She was never sad...since the day I met her, she'd always been either happy or angry, mostly happy, though. I'd never seen her..._sad. _I sat down next to her when she was sitting on the bed with the remote in hand. It was on a news station, talking about AVALANCHE and the recent explosions. I thought for a moment about what to say, as she didn't look up at me when I sat down.

"Jessie, ah..." I was at loss for words. What was I supposed to say? She looked up at me with big, sad eyes, it hurt me a little. Just a little. She was so sad about this guy...why? Why? "You wanna go to Wall Market? You remember that necklace in the dress shop you pointed out a few weeks ago? I scraped up the gil for it if you still wanted it."

"Oh Riley..." she sighed with a small smile, resting her forehead on my shoulder. "No, that's okay. I appreciate it, you know...I just don't feel up to it. You understand, don't you?"

"I...suppose..." I said, very slowly. Sure, it made me feel bad, she didn't want to do anything. Why did this guy have this effect on the people I cared about? These were my best friends...she was..my...well, not quite...but... "I understand. Yeah. But I don't want you to be sad, Jessie."

"I'm sorry...it's just, he's gone. It happened so fast, you know?" she told me, clasping her arms on her legs. I shook my head at her, resting my arm on the back of the couch with my body turned towards her.

"Come on. He's not gone, you know he'll come back some day soon, showing up at just the right time, save someone-probably you, and then say "It's not safe here, lets go'-" I did my best Cloud impression, which was a lot harder than I thought, "and then he'll do something else heroic and he'll be back." I smiled when I heard her giggle, beaming up at me.

"You don't believe that, Riley...but thank you," she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly, which I returned immediately. "I needed that..."

"Don't be sad anymore," I rested my hand against her cheek, carefully of course just in case she reacted oddly to it. But she didn't, she even leaned her head again my hand, which gave me some sort of confidence, so I stroked the side of her face lightly, "I don't like seeing you this way...I like happy Jessie."

"I like her too..." she whispered, placing her hand on top of mines. I felt tingly-which was odd. I thought only girls got tingly at this type of thing...what did that say about me? I shook it off and kissed her forehead, "I hope he's alive, though...for Tifa's sake..."

"For Tifa's sake..." I repeated, I knew she wanted him to be alive for her own sake, but I appreciated her wording. She stood up with a bigger smile on her face. "So, you're going to be happy now? I think the reason why everyones so sad is because you're not your normal, cheerful self."

"Well, I suppose I better go cheer things up!" she had her hands on her hips as she started towards the pinball machine. As she reached for the button, she looked at me and smiled gratefully, "thank you, Rylie." I watched her go up and I sighed happily, falling back into my seat on the couch. I got her happy again...Biggs: two Mr. SOLDIER: one.

.-.-.-.-.

"This is gonna be huge," Jessie had said with a breath when we got to the pillar in Sector 7. Barret had already set it in motion...if only she'd known how right she was. I leaned over the railing, I felt the blood seeping through my clothes, I tasted it in my mouth. Wedge had fallen off the tower after being shot about 20 minutes ago, I didn't know if he was alive, all I could see in my haze was that people crowded around him...maybe they'd help him, I hoped.

I'd been wounded badly, I was only in the middle, Jessie out of all of us seemed to be trying her hardest to get to the top to help Barret, she fought harder than she'd ever fought before. It amazed me how much she was trying for something that was so hopeless. This place was going down, and all of them were going down with it, I knew it. I was a goner, and so was Jessie...Jessie...I needed to see her. See her one last time. I got to my feet as blood trailed down my chin, it felt horrible. Someone with spiky blond hair stopped in front of me, oh...great.

"Mr. SOLDIER..." I coughed into my hand, blood dripping into it. "You say you don't care about the planet..."

"...You're wounded..." Cloud mumbled, seeming somewhat embarrassed to say it, but he reached for my wound anyway. I smirked and waved him off.

"Thanks, Cloud," I said, just as embarrassed as him. "Go...leave me and help Barret." I knew there was no help for me, he couldn't help me now. Besides, this was more important...it was for the planet, after all...I'd made a resolve...if it came down to it, if my I met my end for the planet...it'd be okay. I just wished Jessie could've been spared..that reminded me-Jessie. I trudged up the stairs, trying my hardest, the only thing keeping me going was the want to talk to her. I didn't know what I'd say to her...I love you? I wish I could've saved you? What? I didn't know...

I found myself grasping at the rail for help...I was really getting bad, my end was near, I felt it...maybe too near. I needed to hold out for her..I fell to the ground, a few feet away from where Jessie was on her hands and knees, trying desperately to get up. I knew I had enough energy left in me to get to her, so I tried to get to my feet, struggling. A sharp pain went through my stomach, like something was stabbing me whenever I moved. "Jessie..." I whispered, but she didn't hear me.

"Jessie!" And then someone passed me- _him. _His voice was louder than mine of course, so she heard and looked at him, looking like her happy self, only in physical pain.

"Cloud...I'm so glad I got to see you one last time..." she told him, her voice even weaker than mine. I felt a sharp pain go through my stomach again, but this time, it wasn't from moving. I watched, she had tears in her eyes...why? Why?! We'd known each other for so long...I cared about her for so long. I couldn't stand it.

"Don't say last..." Cloud mumbled, hand on her shoulder in a friend-to-friend way. She smiled at him and shook her head.

"It's okay...maybe...we killed so many innocent people when we blew up Shin-Ra's reactors...maybe...this is our punishment..." she sighed, which only lit a fire in my stomach. No-I had to tell her...I wished Cloud would go away. If he didn't soon, I'd just go...I would...

"I'll try to come back for you..." Cloud said, unconvincingly. She smiled and shook hear head again. Cloud go to his feet and ran off to the entrance to the top floor where Barret was. I heaved myself up to my feet and stumbled towards her, only to fall to my knees in front of her. She managed to look at me, and I noticed her smile was noticibly brighter than when Cloud came around...why? I kept asking myself...why, why, why?

"Rylie.." the tears that had formed earlier now leaked from her eyes as I grasped the back of her neck and pulled her up to me.

"This isn't our punishment..." I whispered, brushing the wisps of hair from her eyes. I noticed the blood on her face, she was meeting her end, too. I knew it...I had to do this quickly...I had to, "we fight for the planet..."

"We...do...we do, don't we?" she asked, looking happier now. She grasped my hand with her own and sighed, closing her eyes, obviously in too much pain to keep them open. I didn't like seeing her like this, but it was the last time I'd ever be able to see her. "We're fighting for the planet...we're seeing our end for the planet..."

"Exactly.." I whispered, kissing her forehead. I could still taste blood, but it didn't matter. She was here with me..."we'll be together, wont we?"

"After we...?" she asked, trailing off her sentence. I nodded, staring into her eyes. They were still damp with her tears, that were still leaking. She knew what I meant. When we went back to the life steam...she smiled again and wrapped her arms around me neck, hugging me tightly before pulling away just enough to look into my eyes before nodding happily, "forever after. I promise." I could even feel the hot tears stinging my eyes. I knew she'd keep her promise.

"There they are!"

Neither of us looked away from each other when the voices were heard and the clicking of the gun being cocked were heard, either. My end was here...our end was here, finally here. The impact of the shot blew us off the building, we fell to the ground to met our death and greet the Life Stream, arms around each other.

_Forever after. I promise._

Author's note: if you're wondering what the hell the dream at the beginning was about, I thought it'd be funny for Biggs to have dreams of candy, flowers, and ponies (and Jessie.) Don't judge him x


End file.
